Chance Encounters
by kaseym
Summary: Missy was just a normal girl until the outbreak hit. On a run for supplies she hears a man yelling and wanting to help she finds a rough and violent man by the name of Merle Dixon, hand-cuffed to a metal pipe of the roof of a department store. Not wanting to leave the Man there she helps uncuff him and decides to stay with him until she can reunite him and his Brother Daryl.
1. Chapter 1

She was running down an alley when she heard the scream. Stopping behind a dumpster, she kneeled down and listen and there went the scream again. Looking around she sees a few stray walkers but none that are too close to worry about. she looks up and see an escape ladder and decided to climb up and see where the screaming came from. Hoisting her backpack up, she jumps and grasp hold of the ladder and pull herself up. Carefully making her way up she can hear someone yelling, still too far to know what they were saying. Reaching the last ladder she hoist herself up and over the ledge and look to see a man sitting on the roof yanking away at a metal pipe.

"Excuse me, are you okay? Do you need help?" she asks while putting my hand on the handle of her bat.

The man jumped and looked at her with wild and frantic eyes.

"Now ant you a sight! Why don't you bring your pretty little ass on over to help ol'merle out, sweet checks?" Merle said with a smirk on his face.

Looking the man over, she notices he must have been out here for a long while. His face is bright red with sun burn and he looks very dehydrated. Walking over to him she kneels down by the pipe and see that he's handcuffed to the pipe.

"So Merle? How did you end up like this?" she asks while looking through my bag.

"Had a run in with a not-so-nice cop. Punched me then hand-cuffed me and booked it outta here leaving ol' merle behind" he tells her while looking her over. "Now sweet-checks I don't think a little old nail file is gonna get me outta here." He laughs while watching her dig in her things. Finally finding what she needed she leans over toward merle and show him her lock picking kit and smirk when she notice his reaction.

"Well then I guess I'll have to use this?" pulling out the things she'd need. Quickly working she got his hand un-cuffed and started cleaning his cuts from the metal cuffs cutting into his wrist.

"Ouch! Damn it! Can't you be careful! That stings like a motherfucker!" Merle hissed while pulling his hand away.

"Oh come on! Stop being a baby! I'm almost done. I just got to wrap it up so you don't get it infected." she tell him while pulling his hand back. She wrap up his wrist and stand up and repack her things and start heading back to the ledge of the building to go back down the ladders.

As she was about to go down the ladder a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Turning around to face Merle she raise her eyebrow in a "what do you want" gesture.

"Where you goin sweet-checks? Do you gotta group? What about a place to stay?" he asked.

"Im heading toward the woods outside Atlanta to make camp, hopefully find someplace safe for a couple of days or so. Why? You wanna tag along?" She asks.

"I gotta baby brother right outside the city. There's a big group of people who made camp at a quarry. If you want I can show you?" he said while climbing down.

"Sure, why not. You're the first person Ive seen for a while that hasn't tried to eat me." she says laughing.


	2. Chapter 2

Once they made their way down to the front of the city they went through a couple stores to try and find supplies, at first they didn't find much just a few things of canned food and Merle found a water filtration kit and grabbed him a new sleeping bag. While throwing everything into her backpack Merle leaned against a counter and sighed.

"So sweet-checks, what should I call you?" he asked.

"Well you can call me Missy." she tell him while hopping onto the counter beside him.

"So Missy, What's your story?" He asks.

"Well there's not much to tell. I am twenty-two and I'm from Georgia, before the outbreak I was photographer in college. I had a low wage job working as a secretary. I was home when it all happened." she told him.

"Any family?"He questioned.

"No. My parents died when I was eighteen in a fire. I've been on my own since then. I had an old brother but I'm not sure where he is. He left when he was sixteen and I was thirteen. I haven't seen him for almost nine years. I like to hope he's alive and safe, but I think I'm just kidding myself." she says."Well i think we got everything we need so let's go and find your brother." she tells him and hops of the counter. Getting everything together they make their way outside and take down a few walkers that are too close for comfort.

It took awhile but they made it to Missy's car and headed towards the quarry. It was a very awkward ride and Merle being the pervert she knew he would be, kept putting his hand on her thigh as she was driving. Every time he would put his hand down she would pinch the top of his hand and he would remove it and make some kind of remark then a few minutes later he'd do it again. That pattern lasted until he pointed out the small hidden dirt road going up into the wood. She could tell that he missed his brother and was worried even though he tried to hide it under that tough-guy exterior.

Pulling up she can see a few cars lined up near an old camper-van and she could see someone on top of the camper. That person saw them and yelled down and then a man with a gun raised came to the front of the car.

"Throw your weapons outside the car and make your way slowly out of the vehicle!" Said the man.

She turned to Merle to see him getting out and yelling at the man. Signing Missy through out her bat down and got out.

"Now now Shane is that any way to treat your old friend!" Merle sneered at Shane.

Shane's eyes went wide with shock then quickly recovering he smirked.

"I didn't expect to see your sorry ass again. Last I heard they left you on a roof." Shane replied. Glancing over his eyes met her's and he raised his eyebrow.

"Yea and id still be there if it weren't for this sweet little thing finding me." Merle said.

Looking around Merle asked where his baby brother is. Taking her own look around she can see a few people watching from a distance and not one of them looked to be Merle's brother.

"He's down by the lake washing up. He just got back from looking for you. He and a group went back to the city to get you but you were gone." Shane said.

"Well come on Girly, let's go meet my baby brother darylina!" Merle laughed while grabbing her arm and pulling her with him. Having no choice she follows silently behind him and when they reach the lake she can see a smaller and younger version of Merle by the edge of the lake washing off his arms. The man was very handsome and you could tell he was stressed out. Merle stopped and relaxed when he saw him and waited till he turned around.

"Yo Darylina! You gonna come and say hello to you big brother or are you gonna stay there cleaning your nails!" Merle hollered.

Daryl jumped and looked at his brother and took him a few seconds for him to realize that his brother was really there.

"Damn it Merle! Where tha hell you been!" Daryl yelled while walking up to his brother.


	3. Chapter 3

After the not so loving family reunion, Merle and Daryl walked off to a tent and sat outside talking. Not wanting to bother them I go and sit by the fire and relax for the first time since the outbreak. Looking around I can tell some of the people are on edge and keep glancing towards Merle and Daryl.

"Hey, my name is Glenn."

Looking up I watch a guy come around and sit down beside me. He looked to be around my age and seemed to be a little shy.

"Missy" I tell him.

"So Missy, how did you end up with Merle Dixon? It can't be his Charming personality." Glenn asked jokingly.

"Merle is not so bad. Annoying at times but overall I've met worse people. Plus I wanted to make sure he got back to his brother. I lost my brother a long time ago and I just wouldn't feel right if I didn't help." I tell him.

"Missy!" Came Merle loud booming voice.

Looking behind me I see Merle waving at me to come over. Leaning over I give Glenn a smile and tell him id see him again later. Getting up I make my way over to Merle and sit between him and his Brother. As I sat down my leg brushed against Daryl's and I could see him try to move away without being noticed.

"Missy, this here is my Baby brother Darylina!" Merle laughed.

"Hi there, my name is Missy. It nice to meet you." I say

"Yeah." Came Daryl's mumbled response. He got up and started walking away towards the woods when I asked him where he was going. His reply was a rude "gonna go hunt since there's another mouth to feed."

I watch him walk into the woods until he can no longer be seen. Well isn't he a ball of sunshine I think to myself.

"Ah don't mind em. He don't know how to talk to a woman. Heck I've never seen him even go around women unless he had to." Said Merle

"Well I guess I better hit the road before it gets dark. Don't want to cause any trouble and it seems like your brother is less than please to have me around." I tell him

"No I won't hear it. You're staying here. I'd probably be walker chow if you hadn't found me. I got an extra sleeping bag so you can stay in our tent with us. And just ignore Daryl, he's just shy."

It seems like I had no choice and to be honest I was happy to stay. Everyone else may not like Merle but I could tell he wasn't heart-less. Maybe I found a place where I can belong and even find friends. I never really realized how much I missed being around people until now.

As I was thinking I didn't notice that Merle had gotten up and went inside his tent until he popped his head out and told me to stop day-dreaming and get in here. Walking into the small tent I see he was moving things around and had laid out a sleeping bag near his and Daryl's cots. He even sat my backpack on top of it along with a blanket and a small pillow. Merle may not be the most joyous person but this shows that he does care. Thanking him I go and sit on the sleeping bag and pull out some clean clothes to change into.

"Hey Merle would you mind if I got changed real fast?" I ask.

"Oh go ahead. I'm gonna head outside and see if Daryl caught anything." He said opening the tent.

Waiting until the zipper was closed, I strip off my dirty skinny jeans and plain black shirt. Getting some clean underwear I quickly pull them on and as I was hooking my bra close when the tents flap opened and in came Daryl Dixon.

"Merle get your ugly ass out and help me skin these…Oh shit!" Daryl said when he noticed I was standing there in my underwear.

"Damn it Daryl!" I yell. Throwing on a plain grey tank top and jean shorts I turn to him.

"Well how tha hell was I suppose to know you'd be changing in here?!" he hissed. "and why tha hell are you in here anyway?"

"Merle said I could sleep here since there isn't any room anywhere else." I say while crossing my arms.

"Great! Just fucking-fantastic!" he yells while storming outside.

Sighing I lay down on top of the sleeping bag and close my eyes. I can tell that my stay with the Dixon's will be anything but peaceful.


	4. Chapter 4

When I woke up I felt fully rested and bright eye. I hadn't been able to get a good night's sleep since this whole thing started. Sitting up I notice that I'm the only one in the tent and I can hear people up and moving around even thought it couldn't be more than eight in the morning. Throwing on my boots I go outside and see Glenn sitting by the Fire pit beside Shane and another man in a sheriff's uniform. When Glenn saw me he waved me over.

"Good morning." He said.

"Morning, have you seen Merle and Daryl?" I ask

"No I haven't." he replied.

Hearing someone clear their throat I look at the man beside Shane.

"My name is Rick Grimes; you must be the girl that brought Merle back?" Rick asked.

"Yes, I am. I only did what any other right minded person would do." I reply.

"I see. It's nice to meet you. Now if you would all excuse me, I'm going to go spend time with my wife and son."

When he was gone I said good bye and went to the tent to grab some shampoo and soap and to change into my swim suit so I could finally get clean. Its things like taking a bath and having clean clothes that we all took for granted.

Walking down to the lake I hope into the water and start scrubbing my hair and body clean. I was so distracted with getting clean that I didn't hear anyone coming down until I heard a low whistle. Spinning around I came face to face with Merle who had a big smirk and didn't try to hide the fact he was checking me out.

"Is there something I can help you with?" I ask.

"Well now that you mention it there's a few things that come to mind." He said.

"In your dreams." I say.

"Don't I know it."

"Now if your done ogling, can you go away so I can finish?" I snap at him.

"ok, I'm leaving. Just came down to tell ya Daryl caught so rabbits and some small game so breakfast should be done soon." He said while walking away.

Hurrying I finish and get dressed and start heading up to camp. I wonder what's up with the Dixon brothers. First Daryl walking in on me changing and now Merle watching me wash up. I understand it's the end of the world, but what does a girl have to do to get some alone time without a guy barging in on her?

The next few days went on and not much happened. I tried a few times to befriend Daryl but they didn't work out like I hoped. I tried being nice and I even offered to help him hunt. He eventually got sick of me asking so he let me come along but I ended up scaring off the animals so I was band from hunting since then. I slowly got to meet and get to know everyone at camp. I became friends with Andrea and found out that she lost her sister the day before I was brought to camp. I even became good friends with Merle even with his perverted ways. I slowly began to feel like I had a place where I belonged and I would do anything to protect these people no matter what.

"gross!"

I was pulled from my thoughts to see Glenn wiping off blood from cleaning the squirrels that Merle and Daryl had caught. Laughing I lean over an wipe a speck of blood from his face.

"Glenn I think you should stick to washing clothes" I say to him.

"Haha…very funny." He replies with a glare.

Shaking my head I throw the rest of the squirrels into a bowl for carol to cook. Carol is a sweet women but I could tell that she was scared. She was lost in this world and she had her Daughter Sophia to protect. I also learned that Carol had a husband but he was killed by a walker when their camp was over run and that he wasn't a very nice guy.

After all the chores were finished I spent the rest of the morning helping Glenn take inventory and if we needed to go on a supply run anytime soon. We had enough food to last for a couple more days and with the meat from hunting we were good for about a week or so. The only things we would need were some new clothes and shoes. Everyone's clothes were ratty and falling apart. The kids were still growing so they would need more clothing and I was in desperate need for some new underwear.

There was a mall a few miles away and I suggested that we all move to the mall and see if we could somehow fortify the place so we could stay there. Shane didn't seem to like that idea too much but rick thought it could be a good idea. We would need to scope out and see if it would be worth it. In fact today Rick, Shane, T-dog, and Jim went out to check out the mall and see if you could move in soon. The quarry is no longer safe, the walkers are moving out of the city and their moving in hordes.

Even as i was thinking i couldn't help but glance towards the tent i share the the Dixon's. Merle had no problem with me there but Daryl still avoided her as tho she was the black plague. Daryl was never said a nice thing to her or even acknowledge her but i still couldn't help but feel attracted to him. No matter what i was doing, if he walked by or was in viewing distance she could feel herself watching him.


	5. Chapter 5

Eventually the group came back from scouting the Mall and decided that it was worth a shot. That night we all began to sort everything together and load up the things we didn't need so we could take off at first light. Rick and Shane wanted to stop by a hardware store and pick up some things to fortify the mall. It would take a while to secure the whole building, but it would be worth it if we could make it safe. The mall would have tons of food and clothes and thing we desperately needed like soap, deodorant, tooth paste and even medical supplies.

For me, morning couldn't come quick enough. At day break we all loaded up and started getting ready to head out. Looking around I wasn't sure who I was to ride with and all the cars seemed to be full. I glance over to meet Daryl's gaze and we just stare at each other for a minute until he nods his head towards his truck where he and Merle and loading. Walking over I smile and ask if I could tag along with them and shockingly they both agree.

It was a tight squeeze between Daryl and Merle and it was a long ride for me while Merle seemed to have a field day snooping threw my bag. I just had leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes when I heard Merle whistle and I just ignored him and tried to get a few minutes of sleep.

"Hey Darylina! Check this out! Sugar here has some slingshots!" came Merle's obnoxious laugh.

Opening my eyes I look at Merle to see him slinging my thongs across the truck cabin like they were slingshots. Jumping up I try to grab them back but just as I went to grab the last one he flings it over me and I freeze. Slowly turning towards Daryl, I look for where my bright red lace thong landed. Flushing red in embarrassment I see that my underwear had landed on his head. Reaching a shaky hand out, I grab my underwear and shove it into my bag and looked down and didn't make any contact for the rest of the drive.

Once we arrived to the mall I was so relieved. At first when we started the trip I okay with riding with Daryl and Merle. That was until the underwear incident and after that I was praying to get out of the truck. Rick and Shane gathered everyone around Shane's jeep and we were put into groups. There were two groups, group one consisted of Rick, Shane, Lori and Andrea, group two was Daryl, Merle, Glenn and I while Carol, Dale and the kids stay inside the RV to keep watch to make sure no walkers could sneak up on us. Group one went down one side of the mall and Group two down the other. Best thing about this mall is that it isn't too big, but it was big enough to have the things we needed. Our job was to check all the doors and windows to make sure nothing could get in. Rick and Shane had stopped by a home depot and grabbed wood and nails to barricade everything and a few hours later we had most of the place secured. It was getting late by the time we were done and the sun would be setting soon so we set up camp in the small bank. The bank had no windows so we wouldn't have to worry about the walkers getting us in our sleep.

After we set up our things, Carol and Lori set out to make dinner and while they were cooking I took the chance to sneak off and explore the stores. Wearing the same set of clothes day after day was awful and now I didn't own anything that wasn't torn or blood-stained so I was determined to find something clean to wear for the first time in weeks.

Looking around at the stores, I walk into a store called Hot Topic and went to the racks hoping to find something practical. This store is a gold mine, it was kind of a goth/punk store and it had skinny jeans that had a lot of pockets and hooks to slide my knife and things in for quick access. About an hour later I had a nice pile of clothes I had picked out and I even picked out a black tee-shirt that had "This is my zombie killing shirt" in bright red for the heck of it.

I didn't want to be in my old clothes any longer so with a quick glance around the store I pulled off my soiled clothes and reached over to find a new pair of underwear from the rack. The place didn't have much underwear and what they did have, had skulls and lace covering every inch, but I did manage to find an almost plain hot-pink underwear set. It had little black bows on the straps of the bra and a single black bow on the front of the thong. I put the bra on and leaned over to slide the underwear up my legs when I felt a pair of hands roughly grab my hips and pull me back.

Before I could scream a hand left my hip and covered my mouth. The person holding me leaned over and I could feel their breath on my neck and ear. Slowly they removed their hand and turned me around to face them and when my eyes locked on to those striking blue eyes, I suddenly forgot how to breath and my heart started to flutter in my chest.


	6. Chapter 6

Daryl showed no emotion while he looked in my eyes. His stare never faltered and his lips were in a tight line while his brow creased as though he was concentrating very hard on something.

Feeling as though he needed to ask me something I raise one eyebrow and try to pull myself out of his grasp. I slowly started to back away but that cause him to pull me back and hold me tighter to his chest.

"Daryl, Is something wrong? Are you okay?" I ask looking up at him.

His arms tensed around my waist and he swallowed hard, I was beginning to really worry. Something must be really wrong for him to be acting like this. When I pulled my head back and look right in his eyes the trance he was under broke and he let go of me and stepped away. Before I could ask anything else he quickly walked out of the store without looking back.

We have been living at the mall for almost a week now and ever since that first night, Daryl had not acknowledged my existence. He was avoiding me and wasn't very subtle about it either. Whenever I walked into a room and he was there, he would stop what he was doing and leave. I didn't know what happened for this to happen. We were not very close in the beginning but it still hurt to know that he was doing everything to stay away from me. I decided that if he was going to act like this then I would save him the effort and stay away from him.

I kept myself as busy as possible and even ended up becoming good friends with Shane. I guess it just took him some time to warm up to me because after we finished making the mall secure and knew that no one could get in without us knowing, he turned to me with the biggest smile and said that I was a genius. We still had people on watch every night just to be positive and other then that, everything was going great.

"Yo Missy!"

"Yes Shane?"

"Come on. You and me are gonna go get supplies. Rick doesn't want us to get too comfortable right away and said he would feel better knowing that all the supplies were in one room so if we need to leave in a hurry we can grab them and go instead of having to run around everywhere." He said while walking over to the pharmacy.

Jumping up I run over to him and we go inside and start grabbing everything we need. We spend a few minutes gathering in a comfortable silence until he stops and turns to me.

"I know it's none of my business but I can't help but notice that you and Daryl have been acting strange since we got here. What's going on between y'all?" he asks.

"There's nothing between us Shane, to be honest I think he hates me." I tell him while still packing a bag full of kid's vitamins. "Look, Shane. I'd rather not talk about it. Let's just finish up here. And head over to the bass pro shop so we can get new weapons."

"You know I'm not the only one that sees how you act around him. It's pretty obvious. You can cut the sexual tension with a knife." he says with a smirk.

"Sexual tension?! Shane are you high?! I told you he hates me! He refuses to even be near me!" I yell in embarrassment.

"You two should just fuck and get over it." He smirks while leaning against the shelf.

"Shane!"i say disbelief. I can't believe this! Shane is telling me to...to have sex with Daryl! I don't think my face could have gotten anymore red. It feels as though all of my blood has went to my face.

"What? We are both grown ups here and its not like your a virgin,right?" he ask in a teasing voice.

I was wrong, I could feel my face burning as I grow even more red in embarrassment. The thing is, I was indeed a virgin. I know, how pathetic? I am a Twenty-two year old virgin.

"Your not a virgin are you?" he asks again in a more serious tone when I didn't reply.

"Would it be such a bad thing if I was?" I ask in a small whisper.

"Your a virgin? How? I mean you are very attractive so I just thought you would have had sex by now." He states.

"Its not like I didn't want to, i just never had the time to date. I was busy with everything else that I never had a chance and there was never a guy that wanted to stay around long." I say with a groan."Okay I'm done talking about it. I'm finished here so I'm going to go ahead and grab some things for everyone."

I ended up staying in the bass pro shop longer then I meant to. I decided to grab something for everyone for a present. I had picked out a few browning knifes for everyone and I even picked up a new gun for myself. I was about to walk out when I saw the sign that said "Archery" and curiosity got the best of me and so I went to look. I saw they had everything for bows and cross bows so I grabbed a quiver and filled it full of bolts for Daryl's cross bow and I picked out a small bow for myself. It was just big enough for me and I smiled, It would be smart to learn how to use it in-case I couldn't use a gun or a knife. When I was heading for the exit I saw a table covered with hunting magazines and books about plants, seeds, and survival for the outdoors. Flipping threw a survival book i saw it was about ways to get clean water, food and shelter so I grabbed a few of them for Daryl too. I couldn't help but hope he would like them so I hurried and put them on his air mattress.

A little while later I watched as he made his way to his bed after his shift on watch. When he saw the bolts and magazines there he looked around then sat down and pulled a bolt out and checked them out. I stayed hidden behind a wall for a bit until he put everything up and laid down began to read one the hunting magazines.

As I laid on my sleeping bag I slowly fell asleep and for once, I dreamed of crossbows and those amazing blue eyes instead of death and horror.


End file.
